Madrid tops Bayern to reach playoffs

Real Madrid booked its place in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs with 91-78 win over the visiting FC Bayern Munich on Friday in the Spanish capital. Madrid improved to an 18-5 record to retain third place in the standings, while Bayern dropped to 11-12 and slid two positions to ninth place. Madrid took the lead for good in the first quarter, but did not break the game open until the third, when it turned a 46-45 lead into an untouchable 71-52. Madrid never looked back as Sergio Llull paced Madrid with 15 points and 7 assists, while Walter Tavares controlled the paint with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Danilo Barthel had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for Bayern.

Thanks to an early 1-9 run in which Maodo Lo made 2 baskets and Petteri Koponen hit a transition triple, Bayern went up 12-15. The hosts responded, finishing the quarter with a 10-2 spurt that Jaycee Carroll started with one triple and Gabriel Deck with another on the run to beat the buzzer at 22-17 after 10 minutes. Madrid continued its charge with 9 points in the first 65 seconds of the second quarter – including three-point shots from Jeffrey Taylor and Llull, and 3 points the hard way by Carroll – to open 31-17 margin. However, Bayern had no intentions of going away. Barthel and Koponen knocked down back-to-back triples before Lo added his own to cut the gap to 34-27. More triples, this time from Barthel and Braydon Hobbs, made it 40-39 in the final minute of the half before Tavares beat the buzzer with a dunk to put Madrid up 43-39 at halftime. The teams went basket for basket in the third quarter before a put-back dunk from Tavares started a run of 10 straight points that included fastbreak baskets from Deck and Anthony Randolph for a 56-45 Madrid lead. Back-to-back threes from Llull and Randolph made it 62-47 before a triple from Hobbs snapped Madrid's 16-2 spurt. But Tavares scored twice inside and Randolph had a four-point play for a 71-52 difference after 30 minutes. Hobbs and Koponen hit triples to spark hope for the visitors, but so did Llull before Taylor drove for a dunk to make it 78-62. Back-to-back threes from Nemanja Dangubic and Barthel eventually cut the difference to 78-68, but Bayern never got closer than that.

Taking CSKA with it

A win by Real Madrid meant not only that Los Blancos qualified for the playoffs, but CSKA Moscow, too. This is the seventh year in a row that Madrid is in the playoffs.

Key role

Randolph scored 11 of his 13 points in a 25-7 spurt to end the third quarter. His fastbreak dunk, a layup plus free throw and a three-point shot filled a 16-2 run to a 62-47 lead, then his triple-plus-free throw combination with 1.4 seconds left in the third quarter made it 71-52.

A point away

Bayern got within 1 point four times in the game but never took the lead. A triple from Hobbs cut it to 40-39 late in the second quarter, then the visitors got within 42-41, 44-43 and 46-45 early in the third before Madrid went on its key 16-2 spurt.

Next game

Next week in Round 24 both teams will be on the road. Madrid goes on to visit its arch-rival FC Barcelona Lassa, while Bayern travels to coach Dejan Radonjic's hometown to face Buducnost VOLI Podgorica.

Head Coaches

LASO, PABLO

Real Madrid

"For me, it was not relaxing. It was a very difficult game right after the cup. It is always a game that you mark on your calendar. We played three games in less than 48 hours last weekend, and that following game is always hard to concentrate and to play your best basketball. I think we had a solid performance, and that’s why we won. We were able to contest a lot of their positions. We were very solid on almost everything. We did not play great, but we were solid. Basketball sometimes depends a lot of how you feel, and it is normal that we did not feel that fresh because of the amount of minutes and games. But we were solid, we got advantages, we had players coming in and out ready to play, so I am happy for the victory. It is great we qualified for the playoffs. For us seven years in a row being in the top eight, it means a lot for the club, means a lot for the team and for all my staff. To me, it shows we are doing a great job. I only have good words for everyone. Now we are not going to stop, we are going to try to get home-court playoff advantage. It is going to be hard, there are still seven games to go, but we are ready to compete like we showed today."

RADONJIC, DEJAN

FC Bayern Munich

"I want to congratulate Real Madrid on the win. We played correct in the first half, played bad only during 1 minute and 7 seconds of the first half. But in the third quarter everything was done. They got a big advantage and controlled situation on the court."

Players

LLULL, SERGIO

Real Madrid

"The team did a great job. It is important to keep winning at home in the EuroLeague in front of our fans. We are happy with qualifying for the playoffs. It is a lot of work to do it. We want to stay in the first four places to play at home in the playoffs, and we will keep working to keep winning."

BARTHEL, DANILO

FC Bayern Munich

"They were aggressive in the second half and we made way too many mistakes in the third quarter, so we gave them easy points. Whenever we came back in this game, we always made some wrong decisions and they took advantage of our mistakes."